U.S. President Joe Biden has made a passionate call for politicians to re-establish limits on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines following a series of mass shootings in the country.
Key points:
- Biden says the U.S. should ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines
- He is trying to increase pressure on Congress, which may legislate for change
- His speech follows a series of mass shootings in the United States
“We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” he said in a national speech.
Biden is trying to increase pressure on the U.S. Congress to pass stricter laws, though those efforts have failed as a result of past violence.
He said if politicians do not act, voters should use their “outrage” to make armed violence a central issue in the November midterm elections.
The speech follows the deadly shooting of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last week and another attack Wednesday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a gunman shot and killed four people and himself in a medical office.
And these shots were fired after the May 14 attack in Buffalo, New York, where an 18-year-old white man with military equipment opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood, killing 10 people. and injuring three others in the authorities. described as “violent racially motivated extremism.”
The killer broadcast the attack live via a camera connected to his helmet.
All the major broadcast networks were separated from the usual programming to bring Mr. Biden’s direction, before the start of the shows to the maximum audience.
“If we can’t ban assault weapons, we should raise the age to buy them from 18 to 21, strengthen background checks and enact storage and red flag laws, repeal the immunity that protects liability weapon manufacturers. [and] addressing the mental health crisis, “Biden said.
“We should reinstate the ban on assault weapons in high-capacity magazines that we approved in 1994 with bipartisan support in Congress and the support of law enforcement.
Nine categories of semi-automatic weapons were included in this ban: AK-47 and AR-15 “.
Biden has used national speeches in the past to talk about the coronavirus pandemic and the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
But he has used these addresses sparingly during his nearly 18 months in office.
More to come.
Posted 40 minutes ago 40 minutes ago Friday, June 3, 2022 at 12:00 AM, updated 13 minutes ago, 13 minutes ago, Friday, June 3, 2022 at 12:26 AM